Orissa suspect foul play

Bhubaneswar: A day after the humiliating defeat to Punjab in Mohali, the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) Friday urged the BCCI to minutely verify the video recording of the final day of the Ranji Trophy match. OCA secretary Asribad Behera said he was surprised over the manner in which five of the players were given out lbw. He too expressed surprise over V.R.V. Singh’s haul of wickets, including a hattrick. Singh had failed to take one wicket in the first innings of the match, he pointed out.

Prasun pep-talk

Calcutta: CAB president Prasun Mukherjee met the Bengal players ahead of their Ranji Trophy Super League tie against Andhra Pradesh at the Eden Gardens from Tuesday. Bengal must win that match or will be relegated from the elite division. Mukherjee will leave for Melbourne on Monday to be present at the BCCI’s felicitation of former India captain Sourav Ganguly for appearing in his 100th Test. Bengal are likely to effect two changes in the playing XI. Off-spinner Sourashish Lahiri and Soham Ghosh are likely to make way for Priyankar Mukherjee and Arindam Ghosh, respectively.

NZ recall Fulton

Wellington: New Zealand have recalled Peter Fulton for their three-match ODI series against Bangladesh. He replaces the out-of-form Lou Vincent, who struggled against Australia in the recent Chappell-Hadlee ODI series that New Zealand lost 0-2. Wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins and pace bowler Michael Mason have also been released to play domestic cricket.

THE SQUAD

Daniel Vettori (captain), Brendon McCullum, Jamie How, Peter Fulton, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Mathew Sinclair, Jacob Oram, Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie, Chris Martin, Jeetan Patel

US tour of India

Ahmedabad: A cricket team from the US will be playing eight one-day matches in Gujarat during their month-long tour to the state. The under-19 team from the United States of America Cricket Association will reach Ahmedabad on Dec. 22, Narhari Amin, the president of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) said.

Ricky on top

Calcutta: Two unbeaten ODI centuries stretched Australia captain Ricky Ponting’s lead at top of the LG ICC players’ rankings says, a Staff Reporter. While Lee is up two places in the bowlers’ list, Vettori dropped out of top five. The Australia captain moved to 832 points.